McCarthy climbs to Uphill’s top spot

June 22, 2013

WILMINGTON - Charles McCarthy of Wells, Vt. earned the top spot in the Whiteface Mountain Uphill Bike Race on Saturday.

The 33-year-old finished the 11-mile race in 55 minutes and 46.36 seconds, giving him more than enough breathing room to beat Gerry Clapper of Avon, Conn. Clapper finished in 56:04.12.

Overall, there were 272 cyclists in the race, including one unicyclist.

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Mike Lynch/Lake Placid NewsCharles McCarthy of Wells, Vt. crosses the finish line at the top of the Whiteface Veterans Memorial Highway to win the Uphill Bike Race in 55:46.36.

"Once we got going on the steeper parts of the climb, there was one other guy - who I race against pretty frequently, Gerry Clapper," McCarthy said. "He and I just kept a good pace, and within a few miles it was just the two of us. Then I tried to keep a good 10, 15, 20 seconds on him as much as I could. He would reel me in, then I would speed up."

McCarthy said this was his second time in the race, and that he took third in 2010.

This year's third-place finish went to Dan Fronhofer of Saratoga Springs, who finished in 58:26:11. He crossed the line with his cousin Paul Fronhofer, who clocked a 58:25.35. The pair own Grey Ghost Bicycles in Glens Falls.

In the women's division, Kristen Gohr of Reading, Mass. finished first with a time of 59:25.60. The 43-year-old was ninth overall.

"It felt great," she said. "I've been doing this BUMP series for a few years now and I've been really waiting for my win, and it came today and I'm pretty happy."

The BUMP she referred to is the Bike Up the Mountain Point Series, which includes nine competitions across four states and eight mountains.

Gohr said she has finished second and third in previous races at Whiteface.

Guylaine Mailloux of Montreal was the second-fastest female with a time of 1:06:17.12. The 37-year-old was 56th overall.

Appropriately enough, there was only one person in the 8-mile unicycle race. Jonathan Sauerbrey took first place in that one with a time of 1:06:49.11.

Unicycles don't start at Whiteface Mountain Ski Area like the rest of the racers. Instead, they start near the state Route 86 intersection in Wilmington.

Despite the lack of competition, Sauerbrey had a great day, setting a blazing pace for only having one wheel. His time was actually a record for cyclists with one wheel, he said.

"Roland Kays set it in 2009 with 1:10:25 and it was just a remarkable time," said Sauerbrey of Coventry, R.I. "It's held since then, so I figured I'd give it a shot today."

Because Sauerbrey had a head start in this race, all the other racers had to pass him.

"Just trying to maintain balance is incredibly difficult, but I've had a lot of encouragement from the bikers going by," he said. "As soon as the first two went by, I started counting off the numbers for them. One, two, just letting them know what their place was, and got some at-a-boys on the way up and that was really encouraging."

The top local in the race was Jack Piller of Keene. He took 20th place, finishing in 1:01:37.60.